


Dancing & Half-Shiny

by mrs_d



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, POV Original Character, POV cat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-08
Updated: 2016-07-08
Packaged: 2018-07-22 06:50:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7424344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrs_d/pseuds/mrs_d
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dancing Human is always the one who feeds her in the morning, though she sometimes has to hurry him down the hall and remind him of where the Food Room is. Half-Shiny Human never follows them, and after the Queen has eaten, she always returns to their bed, forbidden to her during the night, and curls up in the soft spot Dancing Human has left, right beside Half-Shiny Human’s shiny part.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dancing & Half-Shiny

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, this is domestic fluff, as narrated by a house cat....
> 
> Thanks to Hekkenfeldt for the encouraging words :)

Before Elizaveta asks her human subjects for breakfast every morning, she surveys her queendom, wandering into each room and singing. This, she finds, is a most effective manner of subtly alerting them to her royal presence; if she sings in their quarters, they immediately shut her in the hall, refusing to acknowledge her. In fact, they sometimes do some singing of their own on the other side of the closed door afterwards.

Dancing Human is always the one who feeds her in the morning, though she sometimes has to hurry him down the hall and remind him of where the Food Room is. Half-Shiny Human never follows them, and after the Queen has eaten, she always returns to their bed, forbidden to her during the night, and curls up in the soft spot Dancing Human has left, right beside Half-Shiny Human’s shiny part.

It is warm, and sometimes it purrs. Queen Elizaveta likes it, especially when the snow falls.

The snow is falling this morning; she saw it start before the sun rose, when she was keeping watch over the inaccessible green space, protecting it from feline intruders. She is looking forward to cuddling with Half-Shiny Human’s shiny part after her meal, so, at the very first light, she marches into the spare quarters, where she will see flickering birds from time to time, and begins her song.

“Ugh,” says the blanket on the sofa.

Elizaveta jumps, but she doesn’t flee because she catches the Half-Shiny smell when it moves.

“I guess you’re hungry,” Half-Shiny Human says.

Elizaveta asks a polite question about when she can expect her breakfast, but Half-Shiny Human doesn’t acknowledge it. Instead, he rubs at his fur with his shiny part before throwing the blanket off.

Elizaveta darts back to the hall, watching from a safe distance as he stretches. The instant his feet touch the floor, she takes a few steps forward, giving him some verbal reinforcement, since he seems to need it this morning.

“Yeah, yeah, gimme a minute, jeez.”

Elizaveta huffs in annoyance — how dare he take that tone with her? — but she trots to the end of the hall anyway, holding her tail high in lofty expectation. She turns back to see that Half-Shiny Human has disappeared. She makes a mild sound of confusion. There is no response.

A second later, a sliver of light appears under the door to the Awful Waterfall Room, and, screwing up her courage, Elizaveta shoves her way through.

“Good lord, Lizzy,” says Half-Shiny Human. “Give a guy some privacy.”

Elizaveta approaches him with extreme caution — she can never be too careful, not after Dancing Human tried to groom her in the Basin of Doom — but he moves, shifting forward with his shiny part outstretched. There is a rush of water beneath her, and Elizaveta's brave façade crumbles. She is in front of her empty platter before she stops running. The faint lingering scent of last night’s meal serves to ground her, remind of her goal. 

She hasn’t long to wait. Shuffling footsteps down the hall, and Half-Shiny Human is there, bending over to grab her dish with his non-shiny part.

“How much does Sam usually give you in the morning?” he asks her. “Is it the same as at night?”

She dances towards the Cold Machine and stares.

“Right,” says Half-Shiny Human, pulling open the Machine. “You wouldn’t know. Guess I’ll just have to wing it, huh? You’ll let me know if I don’t give you enough, won’t you, Liz?”

Her Royal Highness squeaks, both in agreement and excitement.

As she eats, Half-Shiny Human goes back down the hall. Elizaveta hears the Waterfall start a moment later and pauses. Normally, like her, Half-Shiny Human would prefer a nap to being wet. This is strange behavior indeed.

Nonetheless, she finishes her meal and begins to groom herself, thoroughly licking away the bits of food that always seem to settle everywhere. Normally, she’d do this in her humans’ quarters, but with Half-Shiny Human under the Waterfall, and Dancing Human nowhere in sight, she settles in the hall, right across from the Awful Room, where Half-Shiny Human will see her right away. With luck, he’ll go to bed and let her clean the sweet water out of his fur.

But he doesn’t. He rubs at his fur with a soft white cloth before he turns on the Noisy Hot Air Blower, prompting Queen Elizaveta to run away to the sofa, where she settles in a corner and accidentally takes a nap.

He is in the kitchen, staring out at the snow, when she wakes. There is someone else singing, music that Elizaveta recognizes because Dancing Human plays it, pulls Half-Shiny Human around the Food Room in a rhythm that Elizaveta joins, weaving in between their dancing feet until they trip and their mouths collide.

Today, though, Half-Shiny Human doesn’t move, and the music seems strange without Dancing Human there to move along to it. Elizaveta winds around Half-Shiny Human’s legs anyway, rubbing her cheek against his calf, singing along to the song.

Eventually, Elizaveta asks him what’s wrong, but he doesn’t reply. She jumps onto the counter to be close to his shiny part.

“You’re not supposed to be up here,” he tells her, but his shiny part scritches behind her ears just the way she likes it, and he doesn’t make her get down like Dancing Human would. She purrs contentedly, marking his black shirt with her beautiful fur. 

“It’s only two days,” he says a little later. "Sam'll be home in two days." 

Elizaveta cocks her head curiously.

“We can make it two days, right, Lizzy?” he asks, and his voice is wavery and strange.

She leans against his shiny part, rubbing and purring, so he knows that she’s there. It works; with a sigh, he scoops her up and tilts her back, so her head is nestled in the shiny parts of him. She purrs harder, and he smiles, bending down to touch his nose to hers.

“We can make it two days,” he says again, more sure this time. “Come on, let’s see what’s on TV.”


End file.
